Thomas Menino

Thomas Menino (27 December 1942-30 October 2014) was Mayor of Boston from 12 July 1993 to 6 January 2014, succeeding Raymond Flynn and preceding Marty Walsh.

Biography
Thomas Menino was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1942, the son of Italian-American parents; growing up, President Harry S. Truman was his hero, and he justified his initial dropping-out from college by saying that Truman never went to college. He went on to work as a housing relocation specialist for the Boston Redevelopment Authority and as an aide to a state senator, and, in 1983, he was elected to the City Council himself. In 1993, he became acting mayor after Raymond Flynn accepted President Bill Clinton's offer to become Ambassador to the Vatican City. He went on to be re-elected several times, and he partnered with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg to fight against illegal guns, worked to prevent Chick-fil-A from opening restaurants near Boston due to their opposition to same-sex marriage, hosted the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and supported green energy policies. Menino was immensely popular, with over half of the city's residents personally meeting him; when he decided to retire in 2014, he had an 82% approval rating.